Lock



Aug. 29, 1967 A. PELCIN ETAL LOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet f;

Filed Aug. 30, 1965 "LL; fi

INVENTCRS- ALBERTA. PEA C/N JOHN m PASTl A I W MAM F ATTOENEYE United States Patent l 3,338,610 LOCK Albert L. Pelcin, Bedford, and John V. Pastva, Parma Heights, Ohio, assignors to The Eastern Company,

Cleveland, Ohio, and Naugatuck, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Filed Aug. 30, 1965, Ser. No. 483,665 Claims. (Cl. 292-126) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A door lock adapted for either sliding or swinging doors in which the latch bolt is pivotally mounted and is provided with camming surfaces that cooperate with camming surfaces on the keeper so that regardless of whether the lock is used with a sliding door or a swinging door, the latch bolt is rotated against a spring by engagement of the camming surfaces as the door is being closed and then the latch bolt is urged into a locking engagement with the keeper by the spring when the door is completely closed.

This invention relates to door, locks of the type which occupy a substantially flush position when installed in a recess or opening of an external surface of a door and which are particularly suitable .for the doors of utility vehicles because such vehicles should have no injurious projecting parts. This type of lock is disclosed in Pelcin United States Patents Nos. 2,987,908, 2,642,300 and 2,900,204.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved flush type door lock of a unitary construction adapted to be quickly and easily installed and which is a rugged and durable character comprising a relatively small number of parts adapted to be economically produced and assembled without the need of differently shaped parts for left and right hand installations.

Another object of this invention is to provide-a unitary door lock of this character adapted to be installed in a door and capable of performing a locking operation whether the door is hinged or slides longitudinally.

Yet another object of this invention ,is to provide a flush type door lock capable of performing a locking operation when the lock is installed on a door face portion that is offset from the hinge.

Other objects and advantages of the invention reside in combinations and arrangements of parts and features of design and construction which provide simplicity and economy in manufacturing, servicing and repairing the door locks. The various objectives will become apparent as the description proceeds, such description being made with reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part of the specification.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary view, in perspective, .of a lock according to *one embodiment of this invention mounted on a surface of the door which surface is positioned angularly relative to the door hinge;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevational view showing the improved lock installed in substantially flush relation in a recess, or opening, of an external door surface;

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal edge view of the installed lock and also showing adjacent portions of the door and door frame section;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the door lock according to FIGURES 1 through 3 showing the latch in its normal latched position in full lines and showing in dotted lines the position of the latch bolt to which the 3,338,610 Patented Aug. 29, 1967 FIGURES 5 and 6 are fragmentary views in elevation showing an embodiment of the door lock in cooperation with a door which slides longitudinally relative to the door lock; and

FIGURES 7 and 8 are views of the end portions of the keeper employed in cooperation with the latch bolt.

The improved door lock 10 is shown in the accompanying drawing as comprising, in general, a recessed body member, or handle receptacle 11, pivot-ally supporting a latch bolt 12 on a pin 13 (FIGURES 4, 5 and 6). The latch bolt is spring biased by a latch bolt spring 14 into a keeper-engaging position. The body member also sup ports an actuating handle 16 which, through its connected trigger 17, pivots the latch bolt 12 relative to the pin 13.

The lock 10 can be used in various different locations and for different purposes, but is especially suitable for use in sliding or pivoting doors of automotive vehicles and particularly on the doors of tool compartments or the like of utility trucks.The improved lock 19 is shown in the drawing as having been installed in an opening or recess 15 on the external surface 19 of a door 20 in a position to cooperate with a keeper 18 mounted on the door frame. As herein depicted, the door 20 may be mounted for longitudinal sliding to the left and to the right of the lock as viewed in FIGURE 2, or may be mounted by a suitable hinge or hinges positioned to the right of the lock of FIGURE 2 and lying in a plane substantially coinciding with the plane of the drawing of FIGURE 2. This novel lock will automatically snap to a locking engagementwith keeper 18 if the door is of the type which pivots, is of the type which is translated longitudinally to a closed position and even if the lock is mounted in a door panel lying in a plane ofiset from the hinge that supports the door (FIGURE 1).

The body member 11 of the lock 10 is a pan-shaped sheet metal part having a substantially flat bottom wall 21, a pair of opposed sidewalls 22, 23, a substantially perpendicular end Wall 24 and a tapered, or inclined end wall 25, which combination of walls defines a recess 26.

dle 16 is pivotally mounted within the, recess 26 by means of a pin 29 extending through the top and bottom walls 22, 23 and retained in this position by a key 30. A lock,

such as a cylinder lock 32, is mounted in the handle 16 and is provided with a key slot 33. The cylinder lock is rotatably mounted in an enlarged sleeve 34 having a threaded portion 35 which receives a securing nut 36 on the opposite side of the paddle handle 16 from the key slot 33. The cylinder 32 is connected to a locking member 37 which extends from opposite sides of the locking cylinder to engage a pair of locking lugs 38. Preferably,

the locking lugs 38 are secured, as by spot welds, to the bottom wall 21 of the handle receptacle 11 and include offset portions which project over the path of locking cam 37. A cover plate 40, shown in FIGURES 3 and 4,

is secured as by welding to the outer surfaces of the sidewalls 22, 23 and is substantially U-shaped in cross section to act as a portion of a housing for the latch bolt 12, its associated pivot pin 13, the spring 14 and a spring guide 42. The spring guide 42 is provided with a base plate 43 which is secured, as by welding, to the inner surface of the cover plate 40 and is encircled by the helical spring 14. The spring 14 urges the latch bolt in the locking direction and is compressed between the base plate 43 and a suitable recess 45 in the latch bolt 12. Movement of the latch bolt in the locking direction is limited by engagement of the bolt with the trigger 17, as shown in FIGURE 4, so that the bolt will be in'proper position, as

shown in FIGURE 5, to contact the keeper upon closing the door on which the lock is mounted.

In order to make it possible to use the lock without change in either swinging or sliding doors, the latch and the keeper are formed so that they will interlock securely to latch the door in place for different types of relative movement. These types of movement include sliding movement parallel to the plane of the door, swinging movement in which the latching movement is normal to the plane of the door and door frame and movement of a door panel carrying the latch about a pivot offset from the plane of the panel.

The latch bolt 12 includes a hook portion 46 having a re-entrant locking surface 47 which engages a correspondingly angled locking surface 48 of the keeper 18. The hook portion 46 has an inclined terminal surface 50 lying in a plane forming an acute angle with the longitudinal axis of the bolt 12. The spring 14 biases the hook to a position in which the surface 50 is adapted slidably to engage an edge surface 52 of the keeper 18, as shown in FIGURES and 6. The hook portion 46 also has a surface 51 (see FIGURES 3 and 4) that lies in a plane substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the latch bolt susbtantially perpendicular to the plane of surface 50. Surface 51 also lies at an angle of about 45 degrees to the outer lateral surface 46a of the latch bolt. Surfaces 50 and 51 terminate in a relatively small fiat tip 53. If the door is translated longitudinally, as in sliding, surface 50 contacts the edge 52, as shown in FIGURE 5, the latch bolt being shown in the normal position it takes when the door is open. Upon continued closing movement of the door, the latch bolt 12 pivots about its pivot pin 13 from the position shown in FIGURE 5 to the position shown in FIGURE 6 and continues to pivot until the short fiat tip 53 of the bolt passes beyond the edge 52. The spring 14 then returns the bolt 12 to a position in which the surface 47 of the hook portion 46 engages the surface 48 of the keeper 18, as shown in FIGURE 4, thus locking the bolt to the keeper 1'8 and preventing the door from opening.

In order to adapt the lock to swinging doors or other doors in which the latch bolt approaches the keeper in a direction substantially normally to the longitudinal axis of the latch bolt, the keeper 18 includes an inclined surface 54, shown in elevation in FIGURES 5 and 6, in plan in FIGURE 7 and in end elevation in FIGURE 8, which tapers at an angle of the order of 45 degrees and terminates in an edge 57 extending transversely of the longitudinal axis of the keeper 18. This surface 54 is adapted to engage the inclined surface 51 of the latch bolt upon closing movement of a swinging door. Thus in FIGURE 1, an embodiment of the door lock 10 is shown mounted in a panel 60 which is angularly positioned relative to the door panel 62. Panel 62 is hinged to a wall 64 by means of a hinge 64a. Thus the panel 60 lies in a plane that is oifset from the hinge. This means that the latch bolt 12 approaches the keeper through an arc whose center is at the hinge 65, and the inclined surface 51 of the latch bolt 12 engages the inclined surface 54 of keeper 18 as the door is being closed. This engagement causes the latch bolt 12 to be pivoted to the left, as viewed in FIGURE 1, until the tip 53 of hook portion 46 passes beyond edge 57 and engages the keeper 18 in a manner shown in FIG- URES 2 and 3. In this position, engagement of the outer lateral surface 46a of the hook 46 with the inner surface 54a of the keeper retains the latch bolt and the door in locked position.

Thus, depending on the manner in which the door is mounted, the latch bolt 12 is swung about its pivot to permit the door to close either by camming engagement of the surface 50 with the edge surface 52 in the case of sliding doors, or by camming engagement of the inclined surface 51 with the inclined surface 54 of the keeper in the case of swinging doors. In the case of sliding doors, the

opening and closing movements of the door are substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the latch bolt,

and in the case of swinging doors, substantially at right angles thereto. In either case, the hook portion of the bolt is retained in a pocket in the keeper defined in part by surfaces 48 and 54a. These surfaces are disposed substantially at right angles to each other, as are the surface 47 and the outer surface of the hook portion 46 of the latch bolt.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary view of the rear of the lock 10 and including the keeper 18 and showing in solid lines the normal latched position of the latch bolt and keeper and showing in dotted outline the release position to which the latch bolt can be pivoted by the paddle handle 16. Pivotal movement of the paddle handle 16 relative to its pivot pin 29 pivots the trigger 17 against a substantially flat surface 65 of the latch bolt 12 which flat surface is displaced relative to the latch bolt pivot pin 13. The latch bolt 12 pivots about the pin 13 from the solid line position to the dotted line position, both shown in FIGURE 4. This movement will release the latch bolt from the keeper and permit the door to open whether the door slides or swings.

From the foregoing description and explanation of the mode of operation, it is apparent that the lock of this invention is suitable for operation in pivotally mounted doors, on slidably mounted doors and on doors having panels that are offset relative to the door hinge. Further, the door lock can be conveniently mounted for left hand or right hand operation on any of these types of doors without modification. Still further, the door lock employs relatively few parts and can be quickly and easily assembled.

In accordance with the patent statutes, the principles of the present invention may be utilized in various ways, numerous modifications and alternations being contemplated, substitution of parts and changes in construction being resorted to as desired, it being understood that the embodiment shown in the drawings and described above is given merely for purposes of explanation and illustration without intending to limit the scope of the claims to the specific details disclosed.

We claim:

1. A door lock mechanism for securing a door to a door frame, comprising a pivotally mounted latch bolt, a spring for swinging the latch bolt about its pivot in locking direction, manually operable means for swinging the latch bolt in unlocking direction against the action of said spring, the latch bolt having a hook portion at the end thereof remote from its pivot, the hook portion having a re-entrant locking surface extending transversely of the longitudinal axis of the latch bolt and an outer lateral locking surface disposed substantially at right angles to the re-entrant locking surface, and a keeper having a first locking surface adapted to be engaged by the re-entrant surface of the latch bolt to lock the bolt to the keeper against separating movement in a direction parallel to the axis of the latch bolt and a second locking surface disposed substantially at right angles to the first locking surface and adapted to be engaged by the outer lateral locking surface of the latch bolt to secure the bolt to the keeper against separating movement in a direction substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the latch bolt, the hook portion of the latch bolt and the keeper having one set of camming surfaces adapted to engage each other upon movement of the latch bolt into engagement with the keeper in a direction substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of latch bolt to swing the latch bolt about its pivot against the action of said spring until said camming surfaces pass each other whereupon the hook portion of said locking bolt is urged into locking engagement with said keeper by the spring and another set of cammingsurfaces disposed substantially at right angles to the camming surfaces of the first set and adapted to engage each other upon movement of the latch bolt into engagement with the keeper in a direction substantially normal to the longitudinal axis 5 of the latch bolt to swing the latch bolt about its pivot against the action of the spring until the camming surfaces of the second set pass each other whereupon the hook portion of the locking bolt is urged into locking engagement with the keeper by the spring.

2. A door lock mechanism according to claim 1 in which the locking surfaces of the keeper together define a pocket in which the hook portion of the locking bolt is received when the bolt is in locking engagement with the keeper.

3. A door lock mechanism according to claim 1 in which the latch bolt is pivotally mounted on the exterior of the bottom of a pan-shaped sheet metal mounting member, the bottom of the member being provided with a slot, said mounting member being adapted to be recessed in an opening in the door, and in which the manually operable means comprises a handle pivotally mounted within the confines of said mounting member, the handle having a trigger extending through the slot and adapted to engage a portion of the latch bolt whereby pivotal movement of the handle will move the latch bolt in unlocking direction against the action of the spring.

4. A door lock mechanism according to claim 1 in which the first set of camming surfaces comprises a surface on the end of said hook portion extending at an angle of substantially 45 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1892 Clark .292-126 7/1962 Pelcin 292-126 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

EDWARD C. ALLEN, Examiner.

I. R. MOSES, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A DOOR LOCK MECHANISM FOR SECURING A DOOR TO A DOOR FRAME, COMPRISING A PIVOTALLY MOUNTED LATCH BOLT, A SPRING FOR SWINGING THE LATCH BOLT ABOUT ITS PIVOT IN LOCKING DIRECTION, MANUALLY OPERABLE MEANS FOR SWINGING THE LATCH BOLT IN UNLOCKING DIRECTION AGAINST THE ACTION OF THE SPRING, THE LATCH BOLT HAVING A HOOK PORTION AT THE END THEREOF REMOTE FROM ITS PIVOT, THE HOOK PORTION HAVING A RE-ENTRANT LOCKING SURFACE EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY OF THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE LATCH BOLT AND AN OUTER LATERAL LOCKING SURFACE DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE RE-ENTRANT LOCKING SURFACE, AND A KEEPER HAVING A FIRST LOCKING SURFACE ADAPTED TO BE ENGAGED BY THE RE-ENTRANT SURFACE OF THE LATCH BOLT TO LOCK THE BOLT TO THE KEEPER AGAINST SEPARATING MOVEMENT IN A DIRECTION PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF THE LATCH BOLT AND A SECOND LOCKING SURFACE DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE FIRST LOCKING SURFACE AND ADAPTED TO BE ENGAGED BY THE OUTER LATERAL LOCKING SURFACE OF THE LATCH BOLT TO SECURE THE BOLT TO THE KEEPER AGAINST SEPARATING MOVEMENT IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE LATCH BOLT, THE HOOK PORTION OF THE LATCH BOLT AND THE KEEPER HAVING ONE SET OF CAMMING SURFACES ADAPTED TO ENGAGE EACH OTHER UPON MOVEMENT OF THE LATCH BOLT INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH THE KEEPER IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF LATCH BOLT TO SWING THE LATCH BOLT ABOUT ITS PIVOT AGAINST THE ACTION OF SAID SPRING UNTIL SAID CAMMING SURFACES PASS EACH OTHER WHEREUPON THE HOOK PORTION OF SAID LOCKING BOLT IS URGED INTO LOCKING ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID KEPPER BY THE SPRING AND ANOTHER SET OF CAMMING SURFACES DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE CAMMING SURFACES OF THE FIRST SET AND ADAPTED TO ENGAGE EACH OTHER UPON MOVEMENT OF THE LATCH BOLT INTO ENGAGEMENT WITH THE KEEPER IN A DIRECTION SUBSTANTIALLY NORMAL TO THE LONGITUDINAL AXIS OF THE LATCH BOLT TO SWING THE LATCH BOLT ABOUT ITS PIVOT AGAINST THE ACTION OF THE SPRING UNTIL THE CAMMING SURFACES OF THE SECOND SET PASS EACH OTHER WHEREUPON THE HOOK PORTION OF THE LOCKING BOLT IS URGED INTO LOCKING ENGAGEMENT WITH THE KEEPER BY THE SPRING. 